A VETERAN'S STORY
BY
ELLSWORTH WALLACE
HAYNES
US Navy, World War II
INTRODUCTION
Ellsworth Wallace Haynes was
born 29-March-1920 in Ripley, Lauderdale County, Tennessee.
He was the son of Samuel Ellsworth Haynes and Edith May Thompson. He descends through the Haynes, Byrn,
Ledbetter, Dennie, Thompson and Ferguson
families of Lauderdale
County.
Wallace Haynes (right)
†
Haynes, Ellsworth Wallace
MoMM 1/c 706-57-63
Born 29 March 1920
†
Dec. 7th, 1941 - - - I was working at
the Curtis-Wright Co., where airplane engines were built. I was told that I was
deferred from the draft but I was very disturbed about Japan's plans
to invade the United States.
So early in 1942 a friend and I went to the Brooklyn
Navy yard and joined up. We were sent to Providence
R. I. for boot camp training, which took place on the Brown University
campus. We were there for 8 weeks, and then my friend and I were separated, never
to meet again.
My orders sent me to Navy Pier, in Chicago, Ill.
When I arrived in Chicago,
the locals were as kind to Navy trainees as any one could ever want. Every day
a group of Navy trainees were invited to someone's home for food and entertainment.
But by the time I left, all this was ending. A few rotten apples had ruined a
good time for all.
I was at Navy pier for 8 weeks and
became a fireman rate instead of apprentice seaman. My orders were now to
Norfolk, Va. by train. Upon arrival, I was given liberty. The City was a long
way from the Navy base but electric street cars made several trips per day. All
taverns closed at midnight
so that military had time to return to base before reveille. The street car was
standing room only and so very noisy. The Conductor stopped the car and told
the passengers to be quiet or he would go no farther. A sailor with hash marks
to his elbow opened the door, took the conductor by the neck and dropped him
outside. He closed the door, took the controls, and ran the car to the base. I
went to bed so don't know what happened next.
Next day I was ordered aboard a troop
transport APA USS John Penn.
The ship loaded 1800 Sea Bees and equipment and got under way through the Chesapeake Bay. As we went around Cape Hatteras,
N. C., we got in a very bad storm. Many,
many people were sea sick. We actually
lost 6 Sea Bees over the side while being sick. Never saw them again. It was
explained that we could not stop for anyone overboard.
We proceeded through the Panama Canal and after some time ended up in Guadalcanal. We arrived before daybreak and left after
dark. Next stop Noumea, New Caledonia, a staging area for troops
being readied for invasions. A very small island just off Noumea was a Leper Colony. I was a fireman in
a Higgins boat crew, so our ship's Doctor and my boat crew took some food to
that place and it sure made a lasting impression on me. How pathetic those poor
people were.
I was soon promoted to 2nd class MoMM as
we made more trips to Guadalcanal, Tulagi,
Savo, etc., always returning to Noumea
to reload. On March 29, 1943,
my 23rd birthday, the John Penn was in Suva,
Fiji. There was
a hotel near the docks and I was allowed to go ashore. I had not had much to
celebrate in a long time, so I decided to have a good time that day. Several of
my buddies were there and we figured it might be my last birthday, so we
overdid the celebration. I smuggled a bottle of Kimmel back aboard the ship in
order to give my chief a drink. We both got loaded and my chief named Bingham
fell into a glass gauge and cut his shoulder. The Division Officer named
Commander Haligan was not a friendly sort to enlisted men and he was not at all
happy about March 29th. Fortunately, there was another MoMM 2/c on the ship
named Hartman that Haligan thought was me. Hartman's boat and crew were ordered
to stay on the Russell Islands the next time the ship sent a boat to visit,
which was standard procedure whenever a new island was visited, so that a pool
of boats and crews could be established. That same night at GQ, Commander
Haligan saw me and he had to ask the Chief why I was there and not on the
island. It was explained that I was not on the island because Hartman had been
transferred instead of me.
Our next trip was to Guadalcanal
carrying 1800 soldiers for re-enforcement. We had finished unloading and were
taking on the outgoing mail when the John Penn was sunk! The war ships had
fought the Japanese airplanes all day and had kept them away from the
transports, but just at sunset one lone torpedo plane got through and hit us
with a torpedo and crashed his plane into the superstructure. That changed my
life for ever. The lives of 111 enlisted men and 13 officers were lost that
day, Friday August 13. The crew of 400 plus had become my family. Many of us
had exchanged addresses and planned to meet after the war if we were lucky
enough to survive. My address book was in my locker as were all my other
personal possessions. I never got close to anyone again. After a few hours in
the water, a Higgins boat crew from the island picked me up. I spent the night
in a foxhole on Guadalcanal. Next day the APA
Hunter Liggett took me and other survivors back to Noumea where we were isolated for 14 days to
give the Navy time to contact next of kin. On the 14th day I mailed a notice to
the only person I contacted, my mother, who heard the news that the Penn was
sunk the same day my letter arrived.
I was next ordered to the USS President
Jackson, APA 18, another troop transport. It was loaded with 5000 Marines headed
for Bougainville. The Jackson always teamed with 3 other
transports, the President Adams, the President Hayes and the Crescent City.
These 4 ships had earned the nickname "The Unholy Four" due to the
large number of enemy planes they shot down. Tokyo Rose was always broadcasting
what was about to happen to us, but it never happened. However, while unloading
marines at Bougainville, the Japanese nearly
succeeded. A dive bomber hit the Jackson
mid-deck with a 500 lb. bomb which did not explode. Lucky for me, because I was
working not thirty feet away. A group of Marines put the bomb over the side.
(Brave people those Marines)
We went in dry dock in New Zealand at
some point in the war, and we also visited Australia with wounded from the Islands but I do not remember when. One night we were
steaming in single file through the slot between New Britain and New Guinea,
and after standing an 8 to 12 midnight watch in the engine room, I went on deck for a little fresh air before getting
some sleep. I was leaning on the rail just cooling off when a destroyer ahead
of us turned on flood lights and opened fire on a Jap submarine on the surface
that was charging batteries. I expect I lost a year or two of my life from fear
that night. The Japs lost it all in a very short time. We landed the next day
in New Guinea.
The Jackson went to Luzon,
Leyte, Guam
and many other invasions. I had now progressed to MoMM1/c and no longer had to
man Higgins boats but did man a salvage boat when needed. The last invasion I
was in was Iwo Jima. We unloaded 1800 Marines
and equipment. I was on board with field glasses keeping track of our boats to
see that none were in trouble, and I could watch the invasion's progress up Mt.
Surabachi, where I saw so many of the young Marines being killed that had just
left our ship. I was privileged to see the Marines raise old Glory on the
mountain. I cried like a baby. I saw the original flag-raising, not the later
one staged for the photos.
The Jackson was always with three other
transports and they were known throughout the Pacific as "The Unholy
Four" due to the large number of Jap planes we shot down. There were 29
little rising suns painted on our bridge. Each time we shot one down, a flag
was added.
Due to mechanical problems that developed
at Iwo, the Jackson was forced to
return to the States for repairs. I was given 18 days leave with delayed orders
not to return to the Jackson.
It took over a month to reach the States due to the mechanical problems. I
spent my 18 days with my Mother and reported to the Seattle, Washington,
Navy Base. My orders were to be first engineer on a Yard Oiler.
And that's where I was when the war
ended. Due to my long overseas duty I was scheduled for discharge immediately.
I was given a ferry ticket to Bremerton
for discharge, but I had to buy my own ticket from there back to Seattle, where I picked
up my wife and bummed a ride to L.A.,
my wife's home town.
There are two things to add. We once
visited Easter Island to pick up an Australian
shore watcher who had been worked out of a job. I was once left on Savo Island
for three weeks to teach new recruits how to salvage diesel engines from sunken
Higgins boats.
There are so many things happened that I
have forgotten.
I believe my guardian angel was with me through
it all.
- - - Ellsworth Wallace Haynes
November, 2001
†
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